Release Date: April 8, 2014
Expiration Date: April 8, 2015
Co-Chairs
Timothy R. Deer, MD
President and Chief Executive Officer
Center for Pain Relief
Charleston, West Virginia
Richard L. Rauck, MD
Clinical Associate Professor
Department of Anesthesiology
Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Goal
The goal of this program is to educate clinicians
about the current landscape in intrathecal (IT)
therapy in the treatment of severe chronic pain
and to provide useful information on referring
patients for this therapy or using this therapy.
Learning Objectives
At the completion of this activity, participants should be better able to:
- Describe the advantages of delivering medication to the site of action.
- Identify
patients who are most likely to benefit from IT therapy and ways to
find health care professionals who provide IT therapy.
- Discuss
the IT medications currently on the market, including trialing, dose
titration, and maintenance using ziconotide therapy with implanted
pumps.
- Review the tolerability and safety of IT therapy, including management of adverse events for both IT ziconotide and IT morphine.
Intended Audience
Physicians who treat pain, including anesthesiologists and pain specialists.
Statement of Need
Education
on the appropriate use of IT therapy for chronic pain is necessary
based on the following practice gaps, which were identified via needs
assessment, including a comprehensive literature review:
- Clinicians may not be familiar with relatively recent studies on the usefulness of IT therapy.
- There
is a relative paucity of literature to guide clinicians with respect to
patient selection and referrals to other clinicians who can provide IT
therapy.
- Because a number of medications are used in IT therapy,
but only 2 are FDA-approved for this use, clinicians need education on
availability and proper use.
- Clinicians may not be aware of the tolerability and safety profiles of IT medications, and how to manage adverse events.
Estimated Time for Completion
1 hour
Course Format
Monograph
Accreditation Statement
This activity has been planned and implemented
in accordance with the Essential Areas and policies
of the Accreditation Council for Continuing
Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint
sponsorship of Global Education Group and
Applied Clinical Education. Global Education
Group is accredited by the ACCME to provide
continuing medical education for physicians.
Credit Designation
Global Education Group designates this enduring activity for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Method of Participation
To receive CME credit, participants should read the preamble, read the monograph, and visit
www.cmezone.com/intrathecal
to complete the online post-test and activity evaluation. CME
certificates will be made available immediately upon successful
completion.
Fees
There are no fees for participating in or receiving
credit for this activity.
Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest
Global
Education Group requires instructors, planners, managers, and other
individuals and their spouses/life partners who are in a position to
control the content of this activity to disclose any real or apparent
conflicts of interest they may have as related to the content of this
activity. All identified conflicts of interest are vetted thoroughly by
Global Education Group for fair balance, scientific objectivity of
studies mentioned in the materials or used as the basis for content, and
appropriateness of patient care recommendations. The faculty reported
the following financial relationships or relationships to products or
devices they or their spouse/life partner have with commercial interests
related to the content of this activity:
- Timothy R. Deer, MD:
Flowonix, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Medtronic (consultant/independent
contractor); Medtronic (grant/research support); Jazz Pharmaceuticals
(speakers' bureau)
- Richard L. Rauck, MD: Jazz Pharmaceuticals,
Mallinckrodt, Medtronic (consultant/independent contractor;
grant/research support); Jazz Pharmaceuticals (honoraria, speakers'
bureau)
The planners and managers reported the following
financial relationships or relationships to products or devices they or
their spouse/life partner have with commercial interests related to the
content of this activity:
- George Ochoa: Nothing to disclose
- Jennifer Kulpa: Nothing to disclose
- A shley Marostica, RN , MSN : Nothing to disclose
- A manda Glazer, PhD: Nothing to disclose
Disclosure of Unlabeled Use
This educational activity may contain discussion
of published and/or investigational uses of
agents that are not indicated by the FDA. Global
Education Group and Applied Clinical Education
do not recommend the use of any agent outside
of the labeled indications. The opinions expressed
in the educational activity are those of the faculty
and do not necessarily represent the views of any
organization associated with this activity. Please
refer to the official prescribing information for
each product for discussion of approved indications,
contraindications, and warnings.
Disclaimer
Participants have an implied responsibility to use
newly acquired information to enhance patient
outcomes and their own professional development.
The information presented in this activity
is not meant to serve as a guideline for patient
management. Any procedures, medications,
or courses of diagnosis or treatment discussed
should not be used by clinicians without evaluation
of patient conditions, contraindications,
applicable manufacturer’s product information,
and the recommendations of other authorities.
Accreditor Contact Information
For information about the accreditation of this program, please contact Global Education Group at (303) 395-1782 or
inquire@globaleducationgroup.com.
System Requirements
PC
- Microsoft Windows 2000 SE or greater
- Flash Player Plugin (v7.0.1.9 or greater)
- Internet Explorer (v5.5 or greater) or Firefox Adobe Acrobat Reader
MAC
- MAC OS 10.2.8 Flash Player Plugin (v7.0.1.9 or greater)
- Safari Adobe Acrobat Reader
- Internet Explorer is not supported on the Macintosh
